Safety attachment for aeroplanes.



P. R. LEA. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR AEROPLANES. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 7, l9-

1,175,363. Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

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uvve-ran H- LEA P. -R. LEA. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR AEROPLANES.

ATPLICATION FILED OCT. 1. I914- Patented Mar.

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VITA/E5555 INVE/VTUR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' rnnci n. LEA, 9mm raA lvcisco, CALIFORNIA.

To all to ham it may concern:

' Be it known that 'I, PERCY R. LEA, a citi- Zen; of the United States, residing at San,

Francisco, in the county of San Francisco, State" of California,. have invented a new and useful Safety Attachment for ,Aeroplanes, of which :thefollowing is a specification, iii-such full and clear. terms as will enable those skilled. the art to construct.

and use the same. I I

This invention relatesto a safety'attachment for aeroplanes and its object is to provide means whereby the aeroplane maybe caused to be righted and land safely even though sin-accident may happen to its operating mechanism.

An object of the inventionis'to provide means whereby the righting apparatus will be folded up and will occupy as little spaceas possibleathereby reducing wind resistance when .theaeroplane is in motion.

Other objects of the invention will appea fabric thereof broken away for purposes of illustration and looking at right angles to Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a plan View of the end of one of the planes showing the position of the safety attachment with respect thereto, F'g. 5 is a plan view of a portion ofthe lower plane showing the hook for holding the safety attachment in the closed and inoperative position, Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of a portion of the disk used for rotating the safety attachment to the operative position, Fig. 7 is a view in perspective of one of the arms which holds the safety attachment to the disk which rotates the same, and Fig. 8 is a view partly in section of the lug on the rotating disk and a portion of one of the arms in place thereon.

The numeral 1 represents the lower plane, the upper plane and 3 suitable frame work connecting the two planes and bracing them.

. The safety attachment comprises a pair of parachutes 4 and 5 with their operating hrraonnnnr FOR. AE'ROPLANE'S.

i .s eifiea tihncf Letters Patent.

Application filed October 7, 1914. Serial No. 865,472.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

mechanism. Each parachute is substantially the same as the other so that a description of only one will be given.

The parachute is supported by means ,of a pair of arms 7 and 8 suitablyconnected to theupper plane and extending outwardly therefrom a short distance. The arms 7 and 8 support a disk 9 which disk has lugs 10 and 11 at diametrically opposite portions thereon and 1t has-a pin 12 which is connected with a rod 13 having a spring 14' connected thereto and secured at its lower end. to a ring 15 on the lower plane.

The disk supports a rodv 16 having two arms 17 and 18 connected therewith by means of the lugs 10 and 11. The lugs -10 and 11 havd a notch cut therein as indicated at 20, Fig. 6, while the arms 17 and 18 have aninterior lug 21 which fits into the notch 20 to permit the parachute rod 16 to move a slight distance at right angles to the axis of the disk.

Connected with the underside ofthe upper plane are two cam rods 22 and 23. The

rods 22 and 23 have offsets at 24 and 25 l and are rigidly connected with a shaft 26' on which the disk 9 turns, the object being to pull the slidable collar 27 up to the disk and thereby through. the spring 28 pull the cup 29 off the ends of the ribs 30 of the parachute.

The parachute has its fabric 31 connected with a series of ribs 30 in a well known manner, and said ribs are pivoted to a fixed collar 33 on the rod 16. Four of the ribs are also connected with rods 34, whichrods are pivotally connected with a slidable plate 35 on the rod 16and which plate has a spring 37 hearing thereon. The object of the spring 37 is to push the plate 35 away from the collar 33 and thereby cause the paraagainst the rod 16 and a cable 40'is connect ed therewith and extends around a pulley 41 to a lever 42 pivoted on the frame at 43 within convenient reach of the operatorto enable him to -release the hook when required. l

The operation of the apparatus 1s as follows: As soon as it becomes necessary from any cause to make use of "the safety apparatus the operator pulls on the two levers 42, whereupon the hooks will release each of the parachutes and the two springs 14 will rotate the two disks 9 through an angle of about 180 degrees during which rotation the cup 29 will-be pulled off the ends of the parachute ribs. Also during this rotation the slidable collar 27 will pass out of contact with the rods 22 and 23 and thereafter willbe inoperative, while (luring the act of rotating 180 degrees the parachute will be caused to be opened by the spring 37 push ing the plate outwardly and carrying along with it the ribs to which it is connected.

It is, of course, assumed that the parachute is braced to withstand the necessary strains, but which forms no part of the present invention.

It is to be observed that while the spring 14 has been illustrated for the purpose of rdtating the parachutes into the operative posia parachute pivotally secured at each end of 7 a parachute at each end of the aeroplane,-

means to carry said parachutes normally in aclosed position with their tops down-' ward, manual means for releasing the parachutes, means to rotate the parachutes through a considerable angle when released,

mechanical means for releasing the. parachute ribs when being-turned from the inoperative position to the operative position, and mechanical means for opening the parachutes when being so turned.

2. T he combination with an aeroplane, of

the aeroplane, means to secure each of said parachutes in a closedposition with the top of the parachutes down, manual means for releasing the parachutes, and mechanical means for turning each-of them through substantially 180 degrees to bring them to a position to support the aeroplane. V

3. The combination with an aeroplane. if

a parachute. pivotally secured ateacli end thereof, locks for secur ng both of said parachutes with theirvtops downward in a closing position, means carried by each parachut to open them when released, and means to, rotate each parachute through substantially 180 degrees when released 4. The combination with an aeroplane,of;

a parachute pivotally'secured at each end of the aeroplane, locks for. securing both of said parachutes with their tops downward in a. closed position, means to hold the parachute ribs adjacent the parachute standard .when the parachute is in the inoperative po sition, a ca'm to releasethe parachute ribs as the parachute isbeing turned from the inoperative to the operative position, and a.

spring at the top of the parachute to open the same when the ribs are released.

:1 The combinat on with an aeroplane of" a parachute pivotally secured .to the upper-16; I portion thereof, ateach end of the same,

meansto lock said parachutes with their tops downward and with their ribs in theclosedposition, means to secure the parachute ribs in the closed "position when the parachute is locked with its top downward, means to re. lease said ribs when the parachute is being turned from the inoperative to the operatiic position, means top 11 the parachute after the ribs are release (and means whereby the parachute may swing in a plane parallel to the normal line of travel of the aeroplane In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of September A. D.

1914, in the presence of the two subscribed 90 witnesses. 7

, PERCYHR. LEA.

Witnesses CARLOS P. GRIFFIN, I HENRY B. Lrs'rnu. 

